A vSphere administrator receives a report of an issue with a vApp. After connecting to the environment with the vSphere Client, the administrator does not see the vApp, but instead sees the inventory

When a vSphere Client connects directly to an ESXi host, the host-level inventory is displayed, which does not include vApp metadata - only individual VMs and basic resource pools are shown. vApps are managed and presented exclusively through vCenter Server, so bypassing vCenter by connecting to the host directly causes the vApp object to be absent from the inventory view.

The client type (C# client vs. Web Client) does not explain the missing vApp - both clients display vApps correctly when connected to vCenter Server.

A partially deleted vApp would still appear in the vCenter inventory with an error or warning state, not disappear entirely when connecting at the host level.

A vApp converted to a resource pool would remain visible in vCenter as a resource pool, and this scenario does not explain the host-level inventory being displayed.